Dining Al Fresco

On Thursday we had preschool in the morning and then in the afternoon we had an appointment at the ear doctors. We are still trying to get rid of our ear infections.

Well I didn't want to lug her kid kart upstairs so she could eat lunch. Instead I thought we could eat outside.

Bella patiently waiting as I go get our food.
It was a nice sunny day, and not too hot and humid out....yet.
We thought the puppies would like being outside so they could run around, or just sun themselves.
Bella gets a ham sandwich blended up, and her water in a straw cup. Mom has a slimfast bar and a Dr. Pepper.

And I'm happy to report, that while we still had fluid in our ear, we do not currently have an ear infection. Although it's the fluid in her ears that causes the hearing distortion for her. So hopefully as she gets bigger and the ears get bigger, the fluid will eventually be able to drain on it's own. Well that and someday maybe she will be done teething, as we think that is the cause of the fluid in the first place.

Pleasant Surprise

We have a lot of improvements we want to do to the outside of the house. We generally are not fond of the current landscaping. Everything is very random.

There is an old garden plot, and I went ahead and planted some vegetables and herbs in the garden. I'm not sure how great they will grow, as the spot doesn't seem to be the sunniest. Around the garden are miscellaneous bushes that need to be cut down. But we haven't gotten around to it yet. So imagine my surprise when one of the "to be cut down" bushes bloomed these beautiful peonies.

I think I'll let it stay!

Drama Queen

For the third day in a row at lunchtime we bawl, we throw a fit, we spit out our food. This goes on for 5 minutes, while mom patiently puts food back in our mouth. And then finally, we stop, actually taste what went in our mouth, and then proceed to gobble it up.On another note, we went to visit our new preschool classroom this morning. When Bella turns 3 this fall, she will start preschool in her own school district. Since her birthday is so close to the start of school, she actually gets to attend when school starts in August. So we went and meet her new teachers and therapists.

They were all very nice and friendly people. They are very excited to have Bella in the classroom next year. In fact all of the therapists were so excited to have a student like Bella, one that challenges them, and makes them think outside the box, one they hope to have a very large impact on.

I am very happy they all take such a liking to her. But it also crushes me a little to have "that child" the one that they get to pull out all their special equipment for, the one that will take so much more therapy then all the other students, the one they haven't seen anything even close to in 5 years. Yes Bella is just that special.

The preschool students also got to meet Bella. It amazes me how the first words out of their mouths are "She is so beautiful". There were two little boys enamored by her, who kept coming over to check her out. One little boy was very excited when he put his hand near Bella's and she grabbed on to his. Of course the boys also think her wheelchair is cool, and asked if they could go for a ride in it!

I find myself wondering at what age will they start to think she is weird and an outcast. Because I know it will come.

Call me lazy

It's just too hard to reach up and adjust my sunglasses, so since I can't see anything, I think I will just close my eyes and take a nap.

How Long Does it Take to Install a Ceiling Fan?

Warning this is going to be a very long post.

Here is our brand new ceiling fan that we installed in our master bedroom. It took us 10 hours to install. Do you want to know why it takes that long?
Step 1: Buy new ceiling fan and ceiling fan hanging bracket

Step 2: Put daughter down for nap, time to get started. Get into attic (for the first time) to remove existing can light, look at insulation and wonder if it contains asbestos - 30 minutes

Step 3: Get on Internet to research insulation with asbestos and come to the conclusion that most likely you do not have insulation with asbestos - 30 minutes

Step 4: Get back into attic and realize while trying to walk around in a half crouched condition that boards that are up there to walk on are incredible thin, break a board, then decide to haul up new boards so you won't end up falling through ceiling - 30 minutes

Step 5: Measure distance to light fixture in room, and then lay out the measurement in the attic so the existing light can be found beneath the many layers of insulation - 15 minutes

Step 6: Realize this measurement takes you to the area in the attic which is incredibly hard to access and you must contort yourself to do the work, cuss a little at your luck

Step 7: Start removing existing can light, then realize you need to remove light bulb and cover plate below. Ask wife who is down in the room to do it - 10 minutes

Step 8: Start to remove the fixture housing in the attic, realize insulation will fall below, conveniently onto your bed. Have wife try to maneuver queen size mattress off bed by herself - 15 minutes

Step 9: Again, start to remove the light fixture, find out that it was installed underneath the sheet rock, so you must really twist and turn in order to get it off without damaging the ceiling, cuss again at your luck - 10 minutes

Step 10: Attempt to install hanging bracket, trying to keep it centered in the existing opening, while also trying to nail it into place. Realize it can't be done, cuss more - 10 minutes

Step 11: Wife attempts to hold bracket in place from below, while husband tries to nail from above. Husband cussing the whole time about how contorted he is in order to make this work and how said ceiling fan is not worth all this trouble. Also complaining about how much insulation is all over his body, in his face, in his hair, all while sending insulation down through the hole onto wife so she can also experience insulation in her hair and in her face (not on purpose) - 15 minutes

Step 12: Take a break then clean up all insulation that fell into bedroom, then take a shower to clean selves up - 1.5 hours

Step 13: Open ceiling fan box and get out pieces. Put ceiling fan piece which goes up against the ceiling in place to check if it covers the existing hole. Realize that it does not cover the hole. Pack it back up, time to take it back to Home Depot and pick out a new one - 40 minutes

Step 14: Get daughter up from nap. Feed daughter a snack and play with neglected dogs - 1 hour

Step 15: Take family to Home Depot, return fan, go to fan aisle. Decide that you had previously picked out the best ceiling fan for the money that was the right color and had a remote control included. Decide that all you really need to do is purchase one of the ceiling medallions to cover the opening. Wonder if you should purchase a large ceiling medallion so that it won't get in the way when you install the fan, decide against it and pick out the smaller one so it won't be so noticeable on the ceiling. Repurchase exact same fan you just returned and ceiling medallion - 1 hour

Step 16: Eat dinner, feed daughter - 45 minutes

Step 17: Get all pieces of ceiling fan out, again - 10 minutes

Step 18: While reading instructions, realize that you bought a P.O.S. fan that had a remote included but not installed, so that you have to install it yourself. Realize that you can't get the transmitter to fit into the fan kit as instructions say. Husband gives up and decides to give daughter a bath, while wife gets on Internet to look for new fans - 30 minutes

Step 19: Wife reads that remote is hard to install, but can be done. Gets everything out and figures out the one position that it can be done in. Husband puts daughter to bed. - 10 minutes

Step 20: Husband installs mounting bracket - 5 minutes

Step 21: Husband connects remote transmitter to power supply, then gets the transmitter to barely fit inside the mounting bracket- 5 minutes

Step 22: Husband holds up motor housing, while wife connects remote transmitter wires to fan wires - 5 minutes

Step 23: Time to fully tighten the fan to the mounting bracket, can't use a screwdriver because of the ceiling medallion needed to cover large hole, can't come from below because the motor housing is too large, wife tries to use her smaller hands to tighten but can't get it to work - 30 minutes

Step 24: Decide in order to make this work, must drill through ceiling medallion and worry about covering up the holes at a later time - 10 minutes

Step 25: Wife puts together fan blades and attaches them to the motor housing - 20 minutes

Step 26: Husband installs light housing, bulbs, and glass cover - 10 minutes

Step 27: Husband turns power back on, and wife prays for everything to work. Uses remote and both the light and the fan comes on, hallelujah - 5 minutes

Step 28: Husband comes up and turns fan on high, fan wobbles all over the place, husband cussing and walks out of the room - 1 minute

Step 29: Wife turns fan to medium speed, no wobbling - 1 minute

Step 30: Husband and wife decide fan at medium speed will work just fine, decide it's too late to put bed back together, so they retire for the night in the guest bedroom

Project complete.

And that is how it takes 10 hours to install a ceiling fan

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Here are some of the pictures from our recent trip.

Out for dinner
Friends we meet from Canada. The resort had many different nationalities staying there, in fact English speaking was the minority. Many times servers would guess we were German or Dutch, before we opened our mouths to speak of course.


The beach, which was always windy but helped to keep you comfortable in the heat.
Cat Tapa, which served the best seafood, and was the resorts "romantic restaurant by the lake", okay it was basically a shallow swimming pool. The Dominican's were extremely nice and friendly people, who really made our trip great.
The gym, where Jesse went almost every morning. I only went once (I was on vacation).
The pool with the swim up pool bar, where we spent most of our time.
It was a great trip, and nice to relax for a week. And that is pretty much all we did.

Bella's Graduation

We attended Bella's preschool graduation yesterday afternoon. She actually is going to still be attending Children's TLC through the summer, but will start in our own school district this fall when school begins. They don't have a summer graduation, so she participated this spring.

Here she is with her teacher and therapists.

They were reading a top ten list for Bella and the list says:

1. Best Halloween Costume - Our own Miss Piggy!

2. Best Bump Ditty- Bumper

3. Fastest communication switch user (to which they had programed "I love you mommy and daddy")

4. Most popular kid in the class - no one even close!

5. Beckett's favorite play date

6. Best at spitting out Mr. Tim's sausage

7. Best DRAMA QUEEN - to get out of anything she doesn't want to do!

8. Employees the best personal shopper

9. Most beautiful curly blonde hair

10. Cutest girl in the world when she looks in your eyes and uses all her sounds to talk to you!

We're back

That's right, we just got back from our one week vacation to the Dominican Republic, while Bella spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa Sneller. I'll upload pictures soon.

It's too cold for new sandals

But we thought we would show you anyways.

A quick peek

Goodbye hideous orange front doors, oh how I loathe you.Hello beautiful mahogany stained front door, I am eagerly anticipating your installation.
Like all of our projects I won't be able to fully report on this for another month, as that's when I think they will actually be installed. A little thing like life always gets in the way. So until then......

Modeling

I don't think we are going to have a career as a model. We easily get distracted by different things.Oh and the whole can't hold our head up thing. But we did want to show off our new outfit.
I made it. It took way too long, but then I have never done anything like it before. You can't really tell, but it's a shirt and shorts. We will be styling in them as the weather gets warmer.

Happy Cinco De Mayo

At preschool this morning, they celebrated Cinco de Mayo by making festive hats and parading around the building. Bella's speech therapist was taking her around and they were shaking a tambourine and asking for cervasas (to be funny). So mom gave her one.
Of course I didn't really let her have it, see the top is still on. This is for mom to have later while she is grilling. Bella actually gets water to drink.
We have been working on a straw for a couple of months now. She does well, but won't actually drink from it herself. Although if you leave it in front of her, she will attempt to put the straw in her mouth (without using her arms). But she usually just gets frustrated and whines for someone to help her. But this gives me hope, that someday we will be able to drink from a straw cup all by our self.

Journey of our walk

It was a beautiful morning out, so we went for our daily walk before it got too hot out. Here are the dogs and Bella all ready to go and wondering why they have to wait to get their picture taken.And we're off. The dogs would pull Bella about 100 feet in front of me, if I would let them. Most times I am just holding on to the stroller to keep them back.
First we wander through our neighborhood.
Sometimes Elle gets in trouble for pulling too hard, and has to walk herself. It's amazing how she stays so nice and close when not connected to the stroller and having to pull along her clunky leash. And yes I play mind games with my dogs.
Then we come to the new neighborhood. They are still building houses, and you notice the general lack of trees. I am partial to the craftsman style houses, and they have a few that I like. My favorite house had a crew of about 10 men planting mature trees, so I decided not to take a picture of them.
Then we wind ourselves into the more established neighborhood, where the trees start again.
This is Jesse's favorite house.
There seem to be quite a few Victorian's in this neighborhood.
This is probably my favorite, but I can't really tell you why.
Then we cross the street, which can be a little dangerous, because it's right after the crest of a hill, and you can't see the cars coming, until they are basically on you.
And we hook up with the start of the bike/hike trail.
Which goes around a pond. The pond is stocked with fish, and generally you see people fishing. I have also let the dogs wade in the water, but I can't tell if it's really allowed or not?
After the pond you come to the main part of the trail which goes on for miles. This is where we ride our bikes, but usually where we turn around during our walks.
And back home we go. It's a good 4 mile walk, and if we're lucky Bella will catch a nap.
I'm so excited to report that our house will be receiving a face lift shortly (well in the next couple of months). I'm sure our neighbors will be happy too! We'll report the progress on our renovation blog.

Mom learned something new

On Sunday we went for our first bike ride with Bella. Here is the bike cart that we added a seat into to support her.Dad has to pull her, because she is too heavy for me.
We probably went on a 6 mile ride and were gone for an hour. On the first half of the ride we stopped to adjust Bella once, twice, three times, for Jesse to tie his shoe, and to finally put Bella's sunglasses on. Once the sunglasses went on, she did a much better job looking around. Although we then had to stop and adjust her sunglasses a couple of times. But all in all, I think she enjoyed the ride.

And what new fact did mom learn yesterday. I learned that puke does not come out of blonde curly hair. That's right, for the first time ever Bella puked last night in bed. We believe it was a reaction to the medication she is on to clear up her ear infection. But needless to say she was taking another bath last night at 11pm, and I finally had to actually comb the puke out of her hair. I know.....too gross, I don't "do" puke very well. But I am happy to report that she is happy and doing good today. Granted nobody got a lot of sleep last night, so we are all a little tired.